Study Finds Violence Is Prevalent in Children's TV Shows

The final report of a massive three-year study of television
violence concludes that six out of 10 shows contain depictions of
violence and that many children's programs contain violent portrayals
which pose a special risk of promoting aggressive behavior among young
children.

The findings of the 350-page National Television Violence Study
conflict with a recent study financed by the major broadcast networks
that showed a steady decline in violent programming on network
television.

The newest report is the last of three annual installments
underwritten by the National Cable Television Association, based in
Washington. Its centerpiece is an analysis of 2,750 shows on network,
independent, and public-broadcasting stations as well as basic and
"premium" cable channels, conducted by seven researchers at the
University of California, Santa Barbara.

"The study shows conclusively that, across all genres and channels
of television, when violence is portrayed, its likely effect is to
contribute to the learning of aggression," the report concludes.

The UC-Santa Barbara analysis focused on entertainment shows such as
dramas, situation comedies, movies, and cartoons. In general, the study
concludes, most of the violence depicted is sanitized and goes without
punishment. Only 5 percent to 6 percent of violent scenes are explicit
or graphic, but a gun is shown in one out of four violent
depictions.

The report expresses special concern about the way violence is
depicted in some children's programming, especially cartoons. Many
cartoons include violence that poses a high risk of stimulating
aggression in children, the report maintains. These "high risk"
portrayals include a perpetrator who is considered attractive, violence
that appears justified, and unpunished violence with minimal
consequences to the victim.

"Younger children have difficulty distinguishing televised fantasy
from reality, and are therefore at increased risk of imitating cartoon
violence," said Barbara J. Wilson, a professor of communication at the
university and one of the authors.

Broadcast Response

The Washington-based National Association of Broadcasters, which
represents the broadcast networks and stations, questioned the
findings. Broadcasters pointed to a University of California, Los
Angeles, study released in January, which concluded that most graphic
violence on television is found on cable channels.

"The undeniable fact is that the vast majority of violence on
television is on pay cable, not on free, over-the-air television," said
John Earnhardt, a spokesman for the NAB.

He also cited federal statistics showing that most categories of
violent crime have dropped across the United States.

Both research projects were prompted by concern in Congress in
recent years about television violence.

As part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress mandated
that new televisions be manufactured with the so-called V-chip, which
allows parents to block out programming rated violent or otherwise
unsuitable for children.

Another part of the cable-sponsored study analyzed the television
industry's voluntary implementation of the TV-content ratings system,
which went into effect last year.

The study by Joanne Cantor and Amy Nathanson of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison gives broadcasters and cable channels credit for
"swiftly implementing" the parental-guideline system, which includes
ratings such as TVY for shows suitable for all children.

In addition, all the major networks except for NBC have added
content indicators to the ratings to signal whether a show includes
violence, adult situations, or sex.

The report calls on the networks to add oral announcements of a
show's rating in addition to the small graphic that appears in the
corner of the screen.

The report contains two other parts:

A study of anti-handgun-violence public-service announcements,
conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, found that those depicting the consequences of violence
are more effective in influencing young people than those that do
not.

An analysis of "reality" programming by researchers at the
University of Texas at Austin found that this genre, which includes
daytime talk shows and programs such as "Cops," to be less violent
than entertainment television.

Copies of the report are available for $39.95 each from Sage
Publications Inc., 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320-2218.
Phone: (805) 499-9774.

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